The Rejection of Sita in Ramayana‑Based Plays

Summary

Chitra P. Shukla examines how the figure of Sītā and the practice of satī (self‑immolation) are portrayed in Sanskrit plays based on the Rāmāyaṇa from antiquity through the seventeenth century. She notes that although Vālmīki’s epic provided the foundational narrative, dramatists exercised considerable interpretive freedom, especially regarding Sītā’s fidelity, suffering and agency. The article surveys a range of plays, including Bhāsa’s Pratimanāṭaka and Abhiṣeka‑nātaka, Rājaśekhara’s Bālāramāyaṇa, and later works by poets in different regions. In several productions the episode of Sītā’s ordeal by fire is omitted or reinterpreted, and the heroine is depicted asserting her innocence and autonomy. Shukla analyses dramatic conventions that require conflict and resolution, showing how playwrights amplified the ethical dilemma surrounding Rāma’s rejection of Sītā to explore themes of dharma, royal duty and female virtue. She also contextualises the plays within socio‑religious debates on satī and critiques the patriarchal assumptions underlying both the epic and its adaptations. By tracing textual variants and performance traditions, the article demonstrates how Rāmāyaṇa‑based drama evolved in response to changing cultural attitudes toward women’s chastity and self‑sacrifice.